Rabbi Charles Berg | |
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Personal | |
Born | Karl Rauchtenberg 1911 Treptow, Berlin |
Died | 24 November 1979 |
Religion | Judaism |
Nationality | German until 1939; British |
Denomination | Reform Judaism |
Position | Rabbi |
Synagogue | Bournemouth Reform Synagogue 1948-1952; Wimbledon and District Synagogue 1953–1974 |
Buried | Golders Green Jewish Cemetery |
Semikhah | 1952 |
Rabbi Charles Berg, born Karl Rauchtenberg (1911 – 24 November 1979), was the first non-Orthodox rabbi to be ordained in England. He came to the United Kingdom in 1939 as a refugee from Nazi Germany, having been interned in Sachsenhausen concentration camp following Kristallnacht.[1][2]
After assisting Rabbi Werner van der Zyl at Kitchener Camp, a camp for Jewish refugees in Sandwich, Kent,[3] he served in the British Army's Pioneer Corps and, at the end of the Second World War, was involved in the interrogation of Konrad Adenauer.[1]
Berg started his rabbinical training at the Hochschule für die Wissenschaft des Judentums in Berlin[2] and continued it privately. He received his semicha in 1952 after being examined by Rabbis Leo Baeck, Arthur Lowenstamm and Dr Max Katten, becoming the first non-Orthodox rabbi to be ordained in England.[1]
He served as Rabbi at Bournemouth Reform Synagogue from 1948 to 1952.[1] In 1953 Wimbledon and District Synagogue appointed him as its first rabbi.[4] When he retired in 1974, the community had grown to 750 members.
He died on 24 November 1979 and is buried at Golders Green Jewish Cemetery.[1]
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